The use of graphics and animation to tell an impactful story

As the World Wide Web becomes more ubiquitous, the potential audience you can reach becomes greater. Despite this reach however, your message must be information-rich in order to deliver the maximum value. As technology has allowed web standards to improve significantly, it is now possible to resort to alternative media forms to deliver a message. A great way to deliver the maximum amount of information is to use graphics and animation over conventional text.

When considering the amount of information delivered, there is an important concept to consider called media richness theory. The idea is simple: the richer the media in question, the higher the quality of information conveyed. Researchers found that in one minute of video, it is possible to convey approximately 1.8 million words of information. With this astounding information density, there is the potential to effectively deliver information in visual and demonstrative forms with audio to supplement it.

An added benefit of this form of information delivery is the ability to incorporate semantics into your message. In other words, graphics, animation, and audio allow you to build a greater of emotional connection with your audience. By capturing this emotional potential, you can have a greater influence on viewers with your message. By harnessing the benefits of emotional marketing, it is also easier than ever to build a long-term connection with your viewers.

In order to deliver value with your information graphics however, it is important that you carefully plan out your storyboard before you begin. The reason for this is that viewer attention span has decreased substantially in the last 15 years. In 2000, the average person’s attention span was 12 seconds. This number has dropped to 8.25 seconds in 2015. Further, in the first 10 seconds of a video advertisement, approximately 20% of viewers click away from the video. After 30 seconds, approximately 33% click away, 45% by one minute, and over 60% after the two minute mark.

While animation graphics and audio can deliver a higher amount of information in a shorter period of time, it is crucial that your message be succinct and capture the viewer’s attention in the first few seconds. Despite the quality of your teams’ brainstorming session, if you don’t provide sequence to your information delivery, you will fail to capture the attention of your target audience, and as a result, viewership will wane.

Additionally, taking the time to plan a story board of your animation brings the entire team together allowing for a more integrated environment when developing the animation. The more integrated this environment, the more seamless your final animation will be.

Another factor to keep in mind is the simplicity of your message. The more simple the message, the more memorable it is to viewers. Additionally, simple and short videos are shared more often. Research suggests that videos that are 15 seconds in length or shorter are shared 37% more often than those between 30 seconds and 1 minute in length. This is because viewers will be more inclined to watch a video if it requires less time commitment on their behalf.

It is also crucial that your brand animation provides insight into your company’s values. As mentioned earlier, it is now easier than ever to incorporate semantics into a video. This means that you can give viewers greater insight into the values that your company promotes. Capturing brand values in the delivery of your message translates to greater consumer loyalty and as a result, repeat customers.

The hallmark of any business is its ability to deliver value to the consumer. The better you can communicate your ability to deliver value, the more inclined the consumer will be to try your product or service. The use of graphics and animation can help tremendously increase the richness of this message.

A great way to do this is to showcase people using your product as well as their reaction to using your product. By letting the viewers see people react to the usage of your product, the viewer can emotionally connect with the video and visualize themselves reacting the same way when using your product or service.

Another great way to add value through video, animation, or graphics, is to give an actual demonstration of how your product works. This takes away any ambiguity surrounding the use of your product, and gives you the opportunity to present the use of your product in a favorable light.

Ultimately, the more engaged you can make the consumer to your animated video, the better the impression that will be left.

Another important consideration to keep in mind when making your video is the use of high-quality audio to complement the delivery of the animation graphics. As consumer attention span is limited, it is vital that the script be thoughtfully written so as to deliver the maximum value in the fewest words possible. What is key is that you recognize your target market, what you want your target market to take away from your message, and what emotions you want your target market to feel.

Although it is tempting to deliver as much information as possible, it is important that your talking speed stays close to approximately 130 words per minute. Even though more information can be delivered, exceeding this threshold results in less information sticking with the viewer as they experience information overload.

A best practice when writing the script is to make sure that each word spoken delivers value in some way. When writing, ask yourself what the purpose of each word is. If a word serves little purpose, then remove it. By writing your scripts in this way, your message will be well-paced, packed with high quality information, and will better resonate with the viewer.

What is most important of all however, is that every aspect of your animation is integrated and consistent. By presenting the viewer with high-quality animation and graphics that are supplemented with clear and concise audio, the viewer will fully feel the impact of the message you deliver. Further, your message will resonate with the viewer far better then any message delivered through less rich media.